News Creative lambasts Apple iPod Shuffle

Some Inq hack reports on Creative's response to the Apple's itty-bitty player:

APPLE'S LEAP into the flash market has left major rivals Creative thoroughly unimpressed. In a press statement issued this morning, Creative has plenty of thoroughly sarcastic remarks for Jobs' mob.

"Entering the market with a statement about pioneering the 'shuffle' function is certainly a bold move that will grab headlines," said John Moseley, the Marketing Manager for Creative here in the UK. "The problem is, it isn't quite true."

It's a fair cop guv. Shuffle has been around since the days of the first CD Walkmen [shorely Walkpersons, Ed.], but this is the first implementation of the function that puts it right at the forefront of the usage model.

More here

Soooo... Creative rightly miffed, or just running scared? Discuss, in the mature, balanced way that I've come to expect from you lot.

 

It's a fair point.

I mean, at the marketing discussion(s) about how they were going to 'sell' this player there could not have been many suggestions:

"Big Apple : Okay, so what can this player do?"
"Small Apple : Well, it can play, pause, stop, forward, rewind and shuffle"
"Big Apple : Is that it?"
"Small Apple : Yes Sir, there is not much else you can do without an interface"
"Big Apple : Interface, you need one of those?
"Small Apple : Yes Sir, but that would require a screen"
"Big Apple : So how do you choose a song then?
"Small Apple : Well...You can play them in linear order, or randomly with the shuffle feature"
"Big Apple : Shuffle you say...Has this feature been used on such a device before?
"Small Apple : (Hesitating)...No Sir...Well...Yes, it has been used on the iPod and the iPod mini"
"Big Apple : So we pioneered it?"
"Small Apple : Yes Sir!"
"Big Apple : Gentlemen, we have our product name...The iPod Shuffle"
"Small Apple : (Round of applause) That's ingenious Sir!"

 

Oh, but I wanna argue, no fair. I hate you *slams door/laptop* ...

Anyway!

Six of one and half a dozen of the other me thinks - creative are quite right that this is just Apple exploiting their power/influence/etc to market a mediocre product (feature-wise anyway). However, there's probably a fair amount of sour grapes in there too.

 

Why is Apple bashing such a popular thing to do? Lets see... Apple stock has trippled in the last year. Hmm I don't think Creative's did. Yeah Jobs is a friggin idiot. Hey creative can you say iPod, iMac, (not realted) Pixar, etc.

Personally I am waiting for an Apple game machine. They can call it the A box.

 

Sure it won't be called the iPlay?

 

no it would be called the iwearebetterthanyoubecausebillgatesisthedevil
apple products suck, they rely on their brand to sell their stuff, and they always seem to claim they have pioneered technology that has been around for years, etc. etc. etc.
5million threads about mac's crappy products can bore a guy ya know

 

I think it's ridiculous. It's a USB smart drive, init. With less features than some of the other branded ones. Having said that, it IS quite a nice price, and probably would look quite cool to have in the palm of your hand. Literally

But, seeing as we are on the subject of Apple and their market exploitation with their powerful brand, I would quite like to point you at the MacMini. Here we see, once again, an utterly underpowered, minimalistic silver box, for an outrageous price (in terms of bang for buck).

Hey, how about this: the iApple - an apple shaped fruit, comes in red, green and sometimes yellow. Has a soft chewy skin, with the inside consisting of 90% water. I can't believe they haven't thought of it before

 

Have you been reading the news? Hmmmm?

 

that comes straight off the apple website and its about the imac mini.
Who the hell are they to say that Osx is the world's most advanced operating system?!
One of several reasons I think apple is fill of Crap when it comes to the telling you how good their products are.

 

I'm thinking of making an Apple spoof website because they seem to twist any lack of features or 'inventive' function into a selling point...such as paying £30 extra for any MP3 player with a 'surprise' factor

<A88>

 

You know, I completely missed that thread

 

Honestly I don't see what the big deal is about the IPOD. I think owning one has become more a status thing. I would watch TV and see everyone saying you have to own this device it will change your life. I bought into it and ordered one on a great deal back when Dell was still selling them. It was a Gen 3, 20 gig unit. I sold it like 2 months later as it was a royal PITA to use in the car. It did play music just fine and it was cool looking but I just didn't use it all that much. I'm not Apple bashing it just isn't all that people make it out to be. I've never owned any other Apple products but I do appreciate their fantastic design team. Now I would buy another IPOD if they added Sirius satellite radio to the feature list.

 

probably the most uneducated comment ive heard all day *yawn*

The sooner you lot recognise they are marketed to a different group of people than us the sooner everyone can get on with their lives.

edit: "you lot" is an over generalisation as some people have made constructive comments and valid arguments and actually see the wood for the trees.

 

The Shuffle is just like any other solid state player, like the Muvo etc, except for one thing: iTunes.

The power of smart playlists immediately pushes the Shuffle into another league. And before anyone jumps on my head - I relaise you can't use playlists on the Shuffle itself, but you can use them to load it with the tunes you take with you.

S

 

it wouldn't be apple marketing if it wasnt a lie

 

Here's my question. Can you use it with 'nix?
No? Okay, thanks anyway.

But I have to agree with creativ and the statement above... the iPod is meant for people who are willing to buy into whatever is cool, at whatever price, giving up whatever features could actually be deemed useful.
They make a cute, popular product. Very little more. Anyone who denies this either has their head burried in the sand or is an iZombie as well.
You can say it's cool, and you can say you like itunes, but I don't think there's much else to be said for the iPod or the iShuffle.

 

Now, i havent actually used iTunes, but that sounds very much like a feature in windows media player 10. it can create a playlist based on how much you like tracks based on star ratings it generates/you can give each song, which then copies to a usb device randomly. I use this system for my 128mb ace usb stick mp3 player. i can't say I care who came up with the idea in the first place, apple or ms, but it works and can hardly be a selling point for apple's special ickle new white player?

 

Yep that's very true, MP10's auto playlists are really good and I use em a bit every now and then. Personally I never got on with iTunes, especially when anything I donwload from the store ONLY plays on their annoying app...
As for the Shuffle being like the Muvo...

<A88>

 

[rant]
I'm arguing about this in 5 other threads so I didn't want to get into more of an explanation so I guess now I have to

I have used apple products and other products and all the products from apple (again excluding their computers in a work environment) don't work as well as others, they are either cumbersome or easy to loose (take your pic), their interfaces generally work with only Mac brand stuff, the mp3 players are a pain because you have to use itunes and you can't use straight MP3s, you have to use itunes to convert them to apple recognized media, they easy to break, the variety is very limited, they release another generation the second you buy one, any form of tech apple support other than internet is slow, will cost you an arm and a leg, and the people are very argumentative. I could keep going but I'm sure your already annoyed with reading this much. (if you’ve made it this far)

I am educated on many things you don't know about so don't make assumptions. And the only "lot" that the ipod is marketed to is the ones who want to be cool and buy the most popular item they can get their hands on so that in the evening they can sit down in front of their flat panel plasma screen TV that has mood lights on the back to light the room to match what’s on the TV so that they can watch their reality Tv show that was on last night on the Special edition DVD that was released the same night the show aired while ordering their hard to find Paris Hilton handbag off the internet so it will match thier PDA/cell phone while simultaneously chatting on AOL for broadband about how their life sucks and they wish they could quit their job and move to Hollywood to hang out with movie stars that would Mace them before giving them the time of day if the ran into them on the street. [/rant]

I don’t know what your story is but I don’t “follow the crowd” and I think for myself rather than let and advertising company control what I buy. Don’t try and belittle me because you don’t like what I have to say.

 

Lets keep this civil guys.

As for iPods not using MP3 files, err, where did you get that from? Up until recently, all my music was in MP3 format, and it played very well on my 3rd Gen. iPod.